One

Our front tree is turning out to be so rich and vibrant this year. None of the dull brown and yellow of last year, but bright piercing red. Relieved. Totally and completely relieved.

Two

Three

Blew through all the bins of clothes last night, removing summer shorts and t-shirts and pulling out thick wooly sweaters, long trousers, corduroy dresses. Expect now we'll have a heat wave. Everyone will sweat and whine and I'll curse the day again. Have fallen sort of into the routine of just changing over in the fall, but in the spring clearing out and throwing away. Not a bad system. For eight of us, I have about fifteen big plastic bins, three of shoes, one of snow coats, the rest clothes. They stack high under the stairwell in the basement. Keeping everyone's clothes in the basement clustered around the washer and drier and two steps away from the bins has proved to be So Sensible. It's rotten having to go down to Sheol to find something to wear, but not having the whole house strewn with clothes is worth it.

Four

I also, yesterday, crept away in the afternoon, skipped my long walk, and sat in peace and comfort for an hour in a friend's serene golden dining room devouring her gorgeous figs stewed in port and drinking thick dark chocolate from a delicate little cup. Felt really guilty and happy at the same time. I mean, not too guilty because I'd been invited. Not like I broke in and stole her figs. But the whole hour felt totally illicit. She sent me home with stacks of expensive and helpful school books as she does occassionally, having helpfully had children older than mine, and being of a generous nature. I always look over the wreckage of my school books and wonder if I can make a buck off them, and when I see that they are destroyed and worth nothing, I shove them in the closet and walk away. But some day! Some Day!! I'm going to have a clean beautiful dining room and restore the soul of some pathetic homeschooler and give away the few nice things that remain. Give me a few years.

Five

I over stayed my hour, however, and missed the Garden Gala at church. Heard the music as I pulled into the parking lot and found Alouicious herding the little girls back into the house explaining that they'd had to leave suddenly because the band had asked them to join in singing, a thought which was insupportable to him. Nodded in ascent. Surely singing in public is a terrifying proposition, unless it's in church while everyone is signing. Five minutes later Romulus came rolling smugly in and explained how there had been a cool band and children had been invited up to sing into the microphone, isn't that cool, and so he'd gone up, though he'd stood at the back, isn't that cool, and it had been nice and loud. Alouicious rolled his eyes in horror and crept away. Children, as the officious but kind strangers of the grocery store are wont to say, are so different from one another. Each one is unique snowflake seeking his own unicorn purpose. Some even with a microphone.

Six

Only Revelation remains to me in the New Testament. This morning had Jude, 1-3 John, 2 Peter and 2 Timothy. Yesterday got through Hebrews, and was so overcome was unable to blog, though I tried for the whole day. Of course, every book of the Bible is my favorite, just as I love each one of my children the best, but Hebrews is a heavy and beautiful crown over the scriptures. If you manage to get through the Old Testament, and the life of Jesus, and the beginning of the church, and are looking of the landscape of God's shocking salvific work, and you come finally to Hebrews, and you really listen to the calm reasoning voice explaining the identity and work of Jesus, and how each person fit in and what their life and work meant and stood for, and what it's pointing to…well, if you do that, you'll probably go through the day in tears without knowing why, unable to concentrate and wondering, wondering, wondering about the mercy and grace of God.

Seven

And on that note, I hope you'll have a splendid weekend, doing whatever it is you expect to be doing. I shall be cleaning, lots and lots and lots of cleaning, and running some errands, and generally making myself crazy with lists of things to do, OH! and making the children sing happy birthday into Facebook again, and wishing I was more organized, and wishing I had an hour to spend in the garden, and generally running around in the hysterical way that the weekend requires.